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Pedro y Lola on Machado Plaza Mazatlan Mexico

Alfredo (left) the owner of Pedro y Lola joins us for drinks after dinner and we are serenaded by passing musicians on Plaza Machado. An outside table at Pedro y Lola is a ring side seat for people watching and the Carnival circus on the plaza.

Pedro y Lola Restaurant on Machado Plaza Mazatlan, Mexico

Pedro y Lolaquickly became our base of operations in Mazatlan. We stopped here our first night in Mazatlan for dessert and drinks. We were hooked. The flan was good and margaritas were better. We certainly could have done without dessert but the opportunity to grab an outside table at one of the best people watching patios on Plazuela Machado was too good to pass up.

I don't think more than one day passed during my week in Mazatlan where I did not set foot in Pedro y Lola. Machado Plaza and Pedro y Lola became our haunt. We came here after the formal Carnival festivities died down. We came here late at night. We stopped for a beer in the afternoon after a food tasting event with the Carnival Princesses. We ate lunch here our second day and dinner at Pedro y Lola on our last night in town. I tried the house special "Pedro y Lola Shrimp" prepared with fresh orange and Cointreau. It was superb and a memorable shrimp dish in a week filled with shrimp dishes. Pedro y Lola was our home away from home in Mazatlan. For lunch I had the Grilled Arranchera / skirt steak with Charro beans but the highlight of lunch was the tortilla soup.

Alfredo, the owner of Pedro y Lola, became our friend and protector. When we couldn't locate a cab because of the throngs of people in the Historico Centro we consulted El Flaco, as Alfredo was affectionately known. He told us if we walked to the Malecon we could catch a pulmonías (open air taxi) there with far less competition. He also taught us a thing or two about how to party in Mazatlan during Carnival.

His family has lived in "Old Mazatlan" for several generations. While the Historico Centro district has always been the lively heart of Mazatlan it has seen some tough times too. At one point central Mazatlan lost favor with tourists as the new beach resorts sprang up further north and provided safe new restaurants and night life.

Pedro y Lola is one of Mazatlan's most
popular places to eat, drink and watch
people as they stroll Machado Plaza

Alfredo's family never gave up on old Mazatlan and kept there family home, real estate holdings and business there even though his father was offered land north of Mazatlan that eventually became the new, rich resorts of Zona Dorada. Now, Alfredo is being rewarded for his faith in historic center of the city as the pendulum swings back and Plaza Machado and Historico Centro become the hip place to be in Mazatlan all over again.

Pedro y Lola is named after legendary ranchero singers Pedro Infante and Lola Beltran. The restaurant is housed in the beautifully restored 19th-century Juárez building that has long served as the social center of Mazatlan. The building was home to the first projected motion pictures near the turn of the century.

You feel the history of Mazatlan as you walk the streets near Machado Plaza in what is the only coastal colonial city in Mexico. It was probably in the Juárez building that the news was first whispered that the legendary singer, Angela Peralta, was coming to this music-loving city to perform. But the woman known as the "Mexican Nightingale" would never sing in Mazatlan. She and Yellow Fever arrived on the same ship and she died before ever giving a performance in Mazatlan.

Pedro y Lola's colorful patio before the
rush. Get here early for the best spots.

The historic restaurant/bar sits on the corner of the Constitucion and Carnaval Avenue The interior of the restaurant is relatively small and decorated with local artwork. Even when it is not Carnival, weekends are filled with live music and performances on the square. On weekends (and during Carnival) the street that runs in front of Pedro y Lola is closed, the tables move out to the street, the patio expands and Pedro y Lola becomes part of Plazuela Machado.